Penske Sweeps Phoenix Doubleheader Weekend with Blaney’s NASCAR Win

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Penske Sweeps Doubleheader Weekend with NASCAR WinMeg Oliphant - Getty Images

“Penske Perfect” it wasn’t.

But Ryan Blaney’s hard-fought Straight Talk Wireless 500 NASCAR Cup Series victory Sunday made it a Penske sweep of the NASCAR-IndyCar doubleheader at Phoenix Raceway.

The celebration at Avondale, Arizona, was as more than just a wildly successful salute to team owner Roger Penske in the organization’s 60th anniversary season. It also signaled a Ford triumph over Toyota, as it marked an end to Camry driver Tyler Reddick’s three-race winning streak that started the season.

Joey Logano captured the pole position in his No. 22 Mustang but was involved in two Stage 3 accidents that in one case also resulted in a race-ending mangled No. 2 car of teammate Austin Cindric. So in the late going, it fell on Blaney’s shoulders to match the Saturday success of Josef Newgarden, winner of the NTT IndyCar Series’ Good Ranchers 250, and polesitter David Malukas from the open-wheel side of the Mooresville, N.C., team shop.

Blaney persevered and outlasted runner-up Christopher Bell and third-place Kyle Larson.

But it wasn’t easy. Blaney was plagued by two loose-tire incidents with his No. 12 Ford Mustang Dark Horse. And they were a large part of the reason he had to pass 49 cars to capture his first victory of the season—at this racetrack where he secured the 2023 series championship.

Ryan Blaney had to pass 49 cars en route to his Phoenix win.Sean Gardner - Getty Images

The winner said, “We had a couple mistakes that we learned from and got better and had come from the back a couple times. And honestly, the 20 [Bell’s] was the best car. But Jonathan [crew chief Hassler] made a great call to take two [tires]. And we were able to get the lead and just hold them off. I don’t know how many more laps I’m able to hold them off, but we were able to do that. So really proud of everybody at Team Penske. We swept the weekend. [Josef] Newgarden winning yesterday, us winning today. Can’t wait to see Roger. It’s cool to win here again, and especially after a day like that. So I can’t say enough about the 12 [car] guys for keeping their head down and doing what they do—and Jonathan [crew chief Hassler], again, for making a good call there at the end.”

As for pleasing the boss, Blaney said, “There’s not a lot of things that Roger hasn’t done. And it’s really cool to add to it. This is a special year for everybody. And it’s nice that we can get our first one of the year and something new that we haven’t done before.”

“As most people know, Roger Penske does this to win races. That’s what he loves to do,” Team Penske NASCAR operations president Michael Nelson said. “To give him something he hasn’t achieved before, to give him race wins twice in one weekend [with] two different series, means the world to all of us. It was exciting to pull that off—very proud of our people, to have both poles and both race wins.

“It didn’t look so good for awhile,” Nelson said. “But these guys [on the NASCAR side] had a really fast race car and were able to put together the right strategy at the end and get the car back in position to win and execute it.”

That strategy, according to Hassler, simply was “to show up and have a fast race car. At the end of the race, we were a little bit behind the 20 [Bell]. And we thought we were probably equal to those guys on speed. It was pretty easy for us to choose to change the tires there. Our bed was kind of made, and fortunately, it all worked out.”

Bell, who led a race-best 176 laps of the 312, recorded a second-straight podium finish. He contended that “if we had had more green-flag laps, I think we could have made a run at them, but I don’t know. You win some, you lose some. And this one stings. But on the positive side, I’m really proud of our entire team. It’s something to build on. Just bummed whenever they get away like that.”

Reddick said, “It seemed like our Camry had good speed. It was just kind of back and forth on which direction we think we needed to go with our Camry. And so we kind of just hovered around fifth all day. [It] would’ve been nice to make it four. But [we] scored the fourth most amount of points on the day. That’s kind of what we need to just keep doing all year to keep the lead that we have and to try and hang onto it. If we're not going to win, these are the kind of days we need to have and glad to get out of here with some points.”

For awhile, it appeared in the late going that Team Penske might have been just as disappointed. Its Cup woes severely reduced its chances to sweep the weekend. Blaney was the team’s last hope to answer a little needling from Newgarden, who reminded his Team Penske stock-car counterparts at a Saturday night dinner that the open-wheel drivers already did their part to uphold the Penske reputation. But two of the Phoenix-record 12 cautions made the prospect grim Sunday.

Anthony Alfredo.Icon Sportswire - Getty Images

Logano inadvertently knocked teammate Austin Cindric out of the race in the second of five Stage 3 accidents. Then Logano was involved in a seven-car Lap 254 melee after A.J. Allmendinger tapped him. It knocked Josh Berry, Daniel Suarez, and Logano out of the race.

In the first of those incidents, Anthony Alfredo—who finished 10th in Saturday night’s O’Reilly Series race and was filling in Sunday for Hendrick Motorsports’ Alex Bowman—wound up 33rd in the 37-car field.

Logano admitted fault for that crash immediately via his in-car radio. “I didn’t mean to do that,” he said after hitting Ross Chastain’s rear bumper. But the mistake cost Cindric, whose average running position Sunday had been sixth. Pole-winner Logano, too, was eliminated shortly afterward, and fell 30 positions, to 31st.

Next up for the NASCAR Cup Series is Sunday’s Pennzoil 400, a 267-lapper at the mile-and-a-half Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Blaney’s Car Was a Runaway—Even After the Checkered Flag

As winner Ryan Blaney reflected with announcer Jamie Little on the highlights of his race performance, she noticed that his car was rolling backwards across the start-finish line. “Your car's starting to roll away here, Ryan,” she said. He told her, “Hold on” and sprinted over to his Chevrolet, reached inside it, returned to Little, and aid, “Got it in gear. That was almost really bad, by the way.”

Unapproved Changes Net Penalties for Teams of Zane Smith, Carson Hocevar

Zane Smith’s No. 38 Front Row Motorsports team was penalized heavily Saturday for making unapproved adjustments to the underbody of the Ford during practice and before qualifying. Car chief Will Norris was ejected from the event. Smith qualified 24th but was ordered to the back of the field and had to perform a drive-through penalty after taking the green flag Sunday.

Officials announced Sunday morning that No. 7 qualifier Carson Hocevar also was punished for the same infraction and sent to the rear. Brad Keselowski already knew he would be starting from the back of the grid for turning to a back-up car following a crash during practice Saturday.

IndyCar’s David Malukas Gives Colorful Memory of Only Previous NASCAR Race

A number of NTT IndyCar Series racers stayed an extra day at Phoenix after their Good Ranchers 250 race to watch Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series action and/or to support colleagues from their multi-series teams. David Malukas, 24, of Team Penske, said he hadn’t attended a NASCAR race since childhood—“since I was picking my nose and playing with Hot Wheels.”

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